by CHRISTINE REDFERN

I’ve muttered at billboards before, but I never imagined that I could communicate with one until I met Jason Lewis. His project City Speak was developed so the person on the street can talk back using SMS on cell phones or wireless devices to send messages to those large-scale video displays. A version of this will be presented along with six other text-centric pieces in his upcoming show at Oboro, running Jan. 13–Feb 17.

“One of the things I’ve done in the past five years with my work is really focus on text, to see how far I can push it,” says Lewis. “Exploring what can be done with interactivity, motion and live data processing to create new forms of poetry or investigate interactions from the public that are using text to comment on things. I see my work as an extension of poetry.”

Lewis grew up in the mountains of California. He moved to Montreal five years ago and is currently an assistant professor of computation art at Concordia University. He develops the software needed to make the art he envisions—like the program Mr. Softie, which enables the user to create digital graffiti. Instead of having a spray can full of paint, you have a virtual spray can full of text. The application allows you to stretch, change, transform and animate text.

Another work, Intralocutor, is made for two performers. The installation, says Lewis, “uses a combination of real-time video analysis, captured speech and dynamic typography to visualize the spoken word.” The participants’ silhouettes are projected on the wall and as they speak into the microphone, words travel between one projected silhouette towards the other. The appearance of the words is affected by how they are spoken. Lewis and his team at OBX Labs (www.obxlabs.net) have also worked with rappers, graphic artists and poets to make customized versions of this interactive program.

In 2007, Lewis’s work can also be seen in Montreal at Elektra and his project, City Wide, will be accessible mid-winter across the Île Sans Fil network. City Wide is already up and running at Laïka (4040 St-Laurent), but take note, you have to be inside the bar to join in the chat space.